


Turmoil

by OutcastTrip1995



Series: So, a Mando, a Dathomirian and an Umbaran Walk Into a Cantina [20]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Barricade has to take charge sometimes, Nikov has a guilt complex, PTSD triggers warning, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sunny ... Sunny has pretty bad PTSD, Those tank things were hellish!, Wrench does what he could
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 19:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OutcastTrip1995/pseuds/OutcastTrip1995
Summary: The tanks attack the Hellions and the Outcasts on Umbara. Mayhem ensues





	Turmoil

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings: PTSD; flashbacks; emotional trauma  
> Sunny has PTSD, I've tried to show this but please be aware I have no experience with it and mean no offence if I've portrayed it incorrectly.
> 
> The Hellions are Naaklasolus's awesome OC's!

The weird bug things with too many fucking guns to be believable by any reasonable clone were bad enough. Sunny was cheering like a madman along with the rest when Yamaha and Boom-Time’s particularly vicious explosives tore the damn things apart. What came after though … those were things straight out of Sunny’s nightmares as the call ran along the battle line. 

“Tanks!” 

Tanks … why the fuck did it have to be tanks. Sunny froze in place, his eyes widening in shock behind his helmet as the hellish things crawled into view, their guns blasting away. The blasts of the guns, the creaking sounds of abused foliage being shoved aside, the screams of the other clones as they tried to combat the terrible behemoths … it took Sunny back to a time he didn’t want to remember. 

_“Adjust angle to three hundred!” … “Dammit Sunshine that tank’s making another pass!” … “I can’t get a clear shot Destroyer … LOOK OUT!!!” …_

A slap brought Sunny back to himself, the clone almost shooting Wrench on accident as the medic hit him again. 

“Dammit Sunny you need to stay focused!” 

His legs trembling, Sunny was barely able to swallow a sob as he gripped his kama. He … he couldn’t. Not against tanks. The smell of Ol’ Betsy burning along with his crew still lingered in his memory, returning to the fore like a bad penny. Their tortured screams as they were literally burned alive haunted his nightmares, the feeling of the scars from flames licking along his armor and skin constant reminders of his failure every damn time they pulled because they’d left his damaged skin pulled too tight over his muscles. The battlefield was a grey blur as Sunny sank to his knees, causing Wrench to shout in alarm. 

“Shit! Not now … fuck it Sunny we need you!” 

The medic knew better though than to touch Sunny again. If the Captain was this deep into a flashback, the worst thing he could do would to be knock him out of it physically. Snarling, Wrench hauled his sniper rifle off his shoulder and took up a position in front of Sunny, defiantly firing shot after shot at the tanks while protecting his Captain. His duty to the stranded wounded be damned, there were medics among the Hellions who could deal with them, his duty currently was to his unit and to his Captain. 

*** 

Barricade could see that Sunny wasn’t going to be able to fight. With Wrench defending the Captain, Swipes off doing whatever it was he was doing … deliberately shoving a Hellion into the leg of one of the tanks by the looks of things … and Nikov busy trying to commit suicide by taking a tank on all on his lonesome, it fell to him as the senior Sergeant to take charge. Turning on his comlink, he started barking orders. 

“Boom-Time! Stop cackling like an idiot and start planting some of those mini mines I know you brought with you where those tanks are walking! I want their legs disabled if not destroyed! Lock, Load; ditch the Z-6’s and use the rocket launchers. If these fucking things are like those crawling bastards then a rocket launcher should pierce the main bubble!” 

He narrowly dodged a cannon shot, snarling and defiantly firing his blaster at the damn tank despite knowing it was useless. 

“And Swipes you arrogant bastard! _Stop your little pathetic murder quest and take your team to help Warbrat before he gets himself killed!_ ” 

The inarticulate snarl in response just made the cranky Sergeant laugh grimly before he shut the com off and ran back down into the fray. 

“Target the leg joints! If we can down them we can kill them!” 

He opened fire on the leg joint on one of the lead tank’s legs, joined soon by Inferno, Caboose and Soundblast. Other Outcasts soon joined in, targeting the leg joints of the tank. Their blasters were proving relatively ineffective; but they did have the advantage of forcing the tank driver to make a mistake and direct his tank straight onto one of the mini-mines that Boom-Time had just set in the dirt. Cheers echoed around the clearing as the tank’s foot was blown off, the small victory emboldening them to keep up their efforts to down the tanks. Lock and Load’s bazooka’s were soon in action as well, the twins sending joint shots at the same tank cockpits. It seemed to be working, all their team work. Eventually, the lead tank was downed just as the one the infiltration team and Nikov were attacking also collapsed in a shower of plasma and sparks. Looking around and seeing the remaining tanks being dealt with by the Hellions, Barricade grinned ferally. They might actually be able to survive this clusterfuck. 

*** 

With the tanks downed and destroyed, they had a chance to deal with the wounded … and mourn their dead. Wrench sighed tiredly as he slid Leo’s eyes shut and shook his head. Poor bastard … if they’d had access to gunships then maybe Wrench could’ve got him to the _Galidraan Vengeance_ and saved him. As it was … the old veterans wounds had proven too much. He looked up at Nikov, blue eyes simmering with a mixture of rage and pain. 

“That’s Leo, Kestral and Bear to add to the Wall when we get back Warbrat.” 

Nikov just let out a cross between a frustrated scream, a snarl and a sob; the young man smashing his fist deep into a tree. 

“Three more names tha’ shoul’n’ be up on tha’ Wall Wrench. Ah fail’ dem.” 

“Stop it. You’re getting to be as bad as Wardaddy.” 

Getting to his feet, Wrench placed a hand on Nikov’s shoulder. 

“Look … you do more for us clones than anyone else ‘kay? No other Jedi would deliberately put their lives on the line just to save a rank and file clone; no other Jedi has even bothered trying to find any laws that could offer us rights. No Jedi or Senator or even common citizen has ever told us that we’re free people with rights of our own. You and Wardaddy though … you’ve done that. I know he can’t make it official yet; but we both know that every Outcast will get Concord Dawn citizenship come war’s end ‘cause Wardaddy claimed us all as aliit. I know you’ve been trying to hide it, but I found that datapad of yours with all the clone laws on it, old and new, trying to find some way of getting us out of this mess. And I’ve had you in my medbay enough times to know that you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we get home alive.” 

Wrench squeezed Nikov’s shoulder reassuringly and sighed. 

“Sometimes though … you gotta lose a few along the way.” 

He let go of the young Jedi and turned away. 

“Now come help me with Sunny; I’ve never seen him this bad before.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! Please lemme know what ya thought! ^^


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